mcduck

Gary McDonald

BS in Biological Sciences, 1970, Cal Poly; MA 1978, Moss Landing Marine Labs. I've been doing closeup and macrophotography of marine invertebrates since 1970. I started with a Nikon F and micro Nikkor 55mmm f/3.5 lens, (and PB4 bellows for small animals); moved on to N2002, then Nikon F4, then Nikon D200, and now Nikon D800, with micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 lens, or micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 lens for marine invertebrates. For very small inverts I used a Nikon macro Nikkor 19mm f/2.8 lens or Minolta bellows micro 12.5mm f/2 lens on my bellows. Since I retired I also photograph insects using micro Nikkor 200mm f/4 on a monopod, and SB800 flash or Nikon R1 flash system. Over the years I amassed a large collection of 35mm slides of local marine inverts, now I've started to try to create a similar collection in digital format.
Most of my marine invertebrate photography is done in the intertidal or (for smaller specimens) in a small temporary aquarium, after which specimens are returned to the intertidal.

I bought a Canon 40D and later Canon 70D to take advantage of the MP-E 65mm macro lens, and MT-24EX flash to photograph the tiny guys. Not exactly easy to get the subject in focus, but anything hand-held at 4x or 5x won't be easy because of the incredibly shallow depth of field. I'm just happy to be able to photograph some of the tiny guys in the field.